1. Brown Dog Gadget Kits
These are supercute, relatively simple (some soldering) DIY electronics kits.

2. Solar Print Fabric
Perfect for a child or a crafty type, solar print fabric from (the unrelated!) Cox & Cox.

3. Han Solo In Carbonite Silicone tray
How long have you wanted to make ice cubes, jelly or chocolate in the shape of Han Solo in Carbonite? Yea, of course, forever. Now you can.

4. Vintage Lightbulbs
I love Rockett St. George. At least once a week I go to their website to drool and dream about the day my house isn’t in a constant state of disarray. These lightbulbs are gorgeous, so is everything else there.

5. Lilypad Arduino Beginner’s Kit
The ladynerd in your life will LOVE this. Next year she can make you an email counting t-shirt for Christmas. Win win.

6. iNecklace and Heart Spark
The other night I wore my iNecklace to Brian’s talk at the RI. Everyone was going just a little bit crazy for it. Unfortunately, it seems the iNecklace is sold out (again). As of the 4th of December, they have 23 in stock! Get one quick! As of the 5th of December, they have 7 in stock! Unfortunately, it seems the iNecklace is sold out (again). Instead, have a look at the Heart Spark. I am currently waiting for mine to arrive. And I can’t tell you how excited I am about it….

7. SparkFun Arduino Beginner’s Kit
You’ve been hearing loads about Arduinos. It’s about time you jump in feet first.

8. Sugru
Stocking filler!! This stuff is soooo useful that you *need* to have some on hand at all times. That is all.

9. Lumiphone
A kit to make your own theramin-like Lumiphone, from UK-based Technology Will Save Us. They’re not wrong. (More Technology Will Save Us gear via Rough Trade East.)

10. Atari Wall Stickers
You know you want to…

Some other ideas that I didn’t put on Twitter:

*Fund a Kickstarter Tech Project In Someone’s Name- there are loads and loads of tech projects you can help out. For less-nerdy-more-booky, see: Unbound

* Someone asked me about kids’ electronics kits. My older son had a Hot Wires kit a few years back. My toddler currently loves playing with Squishy Circuits.

* Handmade books are excellent gifts. A few years ago I made my sister a handmade notebook which was part-blank pages and part-zombie survival guide. Here is an Instructables on making your own notebook.

* Combining a few of these together: a while back I funded my lovely friend Suw through Kickstarter for her handmade book project Argleton. You can now buy Argleton for your Kindle.

Finally, just a note. I turned off comments on my blog a while back because I was getting inundated with Brian-related stuff. Sorry. If you want to say ‘hi’ or comment on this list, I’m on Twitter. If you have anything you want to say to or about Brian, he’s on Twitter.

Along with the Protosnap, I also got a few Lilypad components- a coin cell battery holder, some LED ‘petals’ (I also got some “normal” LEDs), a button board to turn things on and some conductive thread.

Orignally, I discovered all of this because I was interested in the idea of making a finger on my winter gloves conductive so I don’t have to take them off when using my iPhone this winter. I started looking into where I could get conductive thread and stumbled upon this amazing world of geeky crafts.

About a month ago, I got very excited about Becky Stern’s LED shoe clips. I knew then than my sights were set far too low with the iPhone gloves. I wanted clothing that lights up…

So I found all the stuff, ordered it… and here I am…

I’ve done my very first soft circuit project. It does not involve the Lilypad Arduino. I’m still experimenting with that.

I was in M&S the other day and passed by this jumper. I was very excited because of the metal zippers. I thought I could use them as a switch. (Click to embiggen)

I’ve got a necklace I bought in Tokyo that I’ve never worn. I thought I might be able to use it somehow.

I sewed on a string of the small pearls and the small chain.

On one side, I sewed two little pads on either side of the zipper at the very top. When the zipper is fully closed, the circuit will be closed when the zip mechanism itself touches them.

I sewed the battery pack on the front. If you look at the big picture, you can see that I’ve sewn one of the positive connections down with conductive thread and run it to one of the pads next to the zipper. I’ve taken some conductive thread from one of the negative connections all the way round the back of the neck of the jumper to the other side to join up with the negative connections on the LEDs. I sewed the remaining two connectors down with normal thread.

I sewed on 5 white LED ‘petals’ in between the pearls and the chain. You can see the conductive thread- the top line is the negative connection, the bottom is the positive. I needed to keep it on top of the fabric because my skin is conductive (I am sewing on small bits of fabric over the zipper pads and anywhere else the conductive thread goes all the way through the jumper).

Notice the lights are off when the zipper is undone.

And on when it is zipped up.

I might be addicted to this already.

NOTE: If you are in North America, Lilypad stuff can be bought directly from Sparkfun and conductive thread is at Lamé Lifesaver.

I don’t really blog much anymore because I’m far too busy with life. I’m on Twitter, so is Brian, though my Twitter is far more interesting than his. For example, his last tweet was about how he’s flying to Chicago today. *yawn* My last Tweet was about how my chance to shag David Tennant was foiled by Paul McCartney sleeping on my hotel room floor. See? OK. It was a dream. But if Brian Tweeted his dreams they’d just be about carrying the groceries in from the car or putting some envelopes in the bin. Yea. Those are the kinds of dreams he has. He doesn’t have dreams where he’s about to shag Doctor Who, but a Beatle messes it up. Even if he did, he wouldn’t Tweet about them…

Anyway, if you’re looking for more Brian-related stuff I’ve got some photos on my Flickr and some videos on my YouTube channel (also look through my favourites for some more). You can also go through my archives here under either the Professor Brian Cox or the Dr. Brian Cox categories. The latter category goes back further.

And if you’re not at all interested in watching Brian’s programmes on Sunday nights at 9pm on BBC2, I’ll be on BBC4 at exactly the same time in a repeat of Electric Dreams. ;)

Brian’s Twitter
Facebook group
Website
Twitpic (where you can see photos from the filming of both ‘Wonders of the Solar System’ and ‘Wonders of the Universe’ which is currently being filmed)

Some photos from the eclipse in Varanasi….




First day of filming:

Ice cave in Iceland:

At Erte Alle:

Namib Desert:

Sahara Desert:

Mauna Kea:

Grand Canyon:

In the English Electric Lightning:

Recording the voiceover:

“I treat my wife as an employee whom I cannot fire.”- A.E.

Mileva Maric was born on December 19, 1875 in Titel in what is now Serbia, but was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Even in primary school Mileva’s teachers noted her academic abilities. At 7 years old she was reading, doing maths and fluent in both her native Serbo-Croatian as well as German.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire’s rules forbade the high school education of girls, but her father, determined to give her the opportunity for an advanced education, received special permission to send her to the Royal Classical Gymnasium (High School) in Zagreb. Mileva, an ethnic Serbian, became one of the first women in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be educated in a school alongside boys.

After two years in Zagreb, she left school with the top marks in physics and mathematics and moved to Switzerland to finish her education, as it was one of the only places in Europe that accepted female students in higher education.

Mileva enrolled as a medical student in the University of Zurich in 1894. After two years of medical studies, she decided that she was more interested in physics so moved to the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School (ETH) and joined Division VIA which trained students to be mathematics and physics teachers. Apart from Mileva there were four male students in the class. Along with Mileva only one other student was specialising in theoretical physics, Albert Einstein.

After a year she went to Heidleberg for one semester in order to study under Professor Philip Lenard. Albert and Mileva were exchanging letters at this point, and in one she wrote about a lecture she had attended on the relationship between the velocity of a molecule and the distance traversed by it between collisions. After this letter, this topic would be relevant in Einstein’s studies and is discussed in one of his three famous papers published in 1905.

The University of Heidelberg did not allow women to graduate, so Mileva returned to Zürich. She and Einstein started working and studying together. She took notes when he couldn’t attend class and as she was better organised, she planned both of their studies. It was during this time they fell in love.

Mileva quickly became devoted to Einstein, sacrificing her studies as well as her friends as he began to demand all of her time. They often preferred to study on their own rather than attend lectures. In 1900 they had to take exams, Mileva fails hers, Einstein only just passes with the second lowest mark in the class. Einstein suggested she retake the exam the next year. She would never, however, graduate.

In late spring 1901 Einstein went to Italy to visit his family, Mileva stayed in Zurich preparing for her exam. In May they meet up in Lake Como for a few days. A few weeks later she learns she is pregnant. In July, she fails her exams again.

Both of their families were strongly opposed the idea of them getting married- after all Einstein was Jewish and Mileva was a Serb. Mileva left Switzerland to stay with her family in order to have the baby.

Their daughter Lieserl was born in 1902. Little is known about the life of this first child; it is generally believed that she was given up for adoption though there is some speculation that she died after a bout with Scarlet Fever.

At this time Einstein has been offered a job in the Patent Office in Bern. His university marks were too low for him to get a job in academia or even as a high school teacher.

Mileva and Einstein married in January 1903, ignoring the objections of their families. They continue their work on scientific theories together. When asked by a friend why she did not insist on more of the credit for their joint work, Mileva replied, “We are one stone; Ein stein.”

Their son Hans Albert was born in May 1904. Just before Mileva and Einstein’s second anniversary, the Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Marie and Pierre Curie.

Einstein writes to Mileva, “How happy and proud I will be when the two of us together will have brought our work on the relative motion to a victorious conclusion!”

In 1905, Einstein publishes the Special Theory of Relativity. It has been said that that Russian physicist Abram Joffe saw an original manuscript signed ‘Einstein-Marity’ (Marity being the Hungarian version of Maric’s surname) implying that the papers originally credited Mileva. Others claim that it was simply Swiss custom for men to add the maiden name of their wife to their own name. Still others claim that Abram Joffe has been misquoted.

Their second son Eduard is born in 1910. By 1911, Einstein is so famous that he has distanced himself from his family, even stopping their “nightly physics discussions”.

In 1912, Einstein starts having an affair with his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal. On his 34th birthday, he gets a card from Elsa. That evening, Mileva is absent from a party. The next day, friends call on Mileva. Her face is bruised and swollen.

In 1914, Einstein received an offer from Berlin to join the University there and accepted. Mileva was unhappy with the move as Einstein’s cousin Elsa lived in Berlin. By this point, Mileva and Einstein have a marriage in name only. In one of his letters to her he writes down a list of demands
1. You must
-clean my laundry.
-make me three meals daily.
-make sure that my sleep and work rooms are always tidy, in particular the desk- which is for my use only.
2. You must do without all personal relations from me, as long as their maintenance for social reasons is not required. In particular you must not expect that
-I stay at home with you.
-I go out or go away with you.
3. You commit yourself expressly to accept that:
-You will receive neither tenderness nor any reproaches from me.
-You must stop speaking to me immediately if I request it.
-You must leave my sleep and/or work room immediately without contradiction, if I request it.
-You commit yourself to not lower me, neither by words nor by actions, in the eyes of my children.

Mileva decided to move back to Zurich with their sons. On Einstein’s demands she eventually agreed to a divorce on the condition that, should Einstein be awarded the Nobel Prize, she should receive all prize money.

The divorce was granted in 1919. Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 and handed the prize money over to Mileva who used the award money to support their sons. During her last years Mileva lived a secluded life in Zürich. When she died she was buried in the Nordheim Friedhof Cemetery in Zurich. Her grave is unmarked.

In accordance with Albert Einstein’s last wishes his personal documents were deposited with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It contains hundreds of letter between him and Mileva. Some letters do suggest that Mileva made contributions to his most important publications, but was not acknowledged as co-author.

Whatever the reality of these claims, Mileva was, in Einstein’s own words, an “equal and who [was] as strong and independent” as her husband was. She was a victim of her time, tormented by her brilliant yet unused intellect, and betrayed by the man she loved.

Here are a few photos I took during filming…

My desk (click for larger pics) with Star Wars, Mr T, Scully, Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee Herman figures, a PacMan table top game, a Little Professor and a guy made out of Lego by my son:

One of my shelves with various annuals and retro tech books:

Another shelf with a PacMan boardgame and Microserfs by Douglas Coupland:

My favourite bit of filming so far was at CERN where I interviewed Robert Cailliau about the development of the World Wide Web.

Tim Berners-Lee’s original proposal for what would become the World Wide Web:

The computer the World Wide Web was developed on:

First, Brian is Twittering from everywhere he films.

He’s also taking loads of photographs. Here are just a few.

In India…

…to view the eclipse.

The Grand Canyon (or as Brian called this picture, ‘Brokeback Grand Canyon’)


In a helicopter over Mauna Kea in Hawaii

Iguazu Falls, Brazil

Meteor Crater in Arizona

ESO in Chile (yes, it was in Quantum of Solace)

Check out his Twitpic for more.

One of his directors, Paul Olding, is putting up some ‘behind-the-scenes’ videos from location. Have a look at Paul’s YouTube channel for more videos and his ’7 Wonders…’ webpage for more images.

Falling down in India

Health and Safety madness in Hawaii

Scuba diving

I’ll try to keep this post updated with new images and video as they come in.

George- after my grandfather
Albert- after Brian’s grandfather
Eagle- after the first lunar lander.